"Althoff's
careful attention to the sources (quoted extensively in the translation
with full Latin citations) and his insights regarding the ritualistic
and demonstrative behavior of the early Middle Ages mark this as
a book that demands the attention of scholars and students alike
and one that should have an English translation."
—John
W. Bernhardt, on the German edition in Speculum
Otto
III (980-1002) was one of the most powerful rulers in Europe in
the late tenth century. He is also one of the most enigmatic. The
son of the German emperor Otto II and the Greek princess Theophanu,
he came to the throne at the age of three and was only twenty-one
years old at the time of his death. Nonetheless, his reign had a
lasting impact on both Germany and Italy for generations. In this
book, Gerd Althoff provides a much-needed biography of this fascinating
figure. In the process, he uses Otto's life to explain how in practice
early medieval kingship worked.
At
the heart of Otto's short career lay three expeditions to Italy
and his efforts to solidify a German Reich that controlled the territory
on both sides of the Alps. Most writers of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries understood Otto, for good or ill, as an idealist and an
individualist. Althoff's great contribution is to make sense of
Otto III against the backdrop of his own time, depicting Otto as
a ruler challenged and limited both by his ancestry and by the political
customs of his time.
Publication
of Otto III marks an impressive debut in English for one
of Germany's leading medieval historians. Throughout his career,
Althoff has been especially interested in conflicts between kings
and aristocrats as a means of understanding the fluid exercise of
power. What emerges in this book is a tantalizing picture of rule
by symbolic act and word, by consensus of the nobles, by behind-the-scenes
negotiations, and through public rituals to cement agreements. The
final result is a vivid portrait of a medieval monarchy that is
neither absolute nor based on long-term policies. Instead we see
a ruler who is truly a product of his civilization.
